GLENN FREY, 67, a founding member and guitarist of the Eagles, died in New York City of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia. Here's the Rolling Stone obit, and bandmate Don Henley's tribute. And here's journalist-turned-filmmaker Cameron Crowe recalling the making of his Rolling Stone cover story on the band (which begins with a cameo from WCFL Superjock Larry Lujack). Most of the Eagles' hits were collaborations, but Frey was the lead vocalist on "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Tequila Sunrise", "Already Gone", "Lyin' Eyes", "New Kid in Town", and "Heartache Tonight," a selection basically consistent twith the notion from interviews that Henley was the darker of the band's two main songwriters. After the Eagles split, Frey continued to chart with hits including "The Heat Is On", "Smuggler's Blues",and "You Belong to the City." It may sound at first like I'm speaking ill of the dead if I say I was never a huge Eagles fan. But my parents were fans, along with millions upon millions of people. And if you grew up in the 70s and early 80s, they were an inescapable part of the musical landscape and the culture in general. I have a relationship with Eagles songs that comes from marinating in them to the degree that I cannot say whether it is because I like them (though I do like some of them, I think). So it is impossible not to feel a sense of loss at Frey's passing, even if it is not the sort of loss I feel over the passing of, say, David Bowie.

IRAN: The U.S pardoned or dropped the charges against seven Iranians in a prisoner swap for the release of four Americans held by Iran.Afterward, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran as a result of its repeated test-firing of ballistic missiles.

IRAQ: Three Americans reported missing from a Baghdad neighborhood were kidnapped by Shiite militiamen from an apartment in the capital, a senior police official and resident of the building said Monday.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Ride Along 2 tops the holiday weekend chart with 39.5MM, lagging the original (despite opening on 500 more screens), but hust about recouping its production budget. The Revenant placed with 35MM on a waveof awards buzz that should project the 135MMfilm into profitability by the time it leavesthe big screen. Star Wars: The Force Awakens slides from the top slot, showing with 31MM on a still leggy 27 percent drop.13 Hours came in fourth wih 19MM, which ain't bad given the competition for male filmgoers, esp. against a low-for-Michael-Bay budget of 50MM. Daddy's Home rounded out the Top Five with 11.4MM and is well into the black for Paramount.

13 HOURS largely manages to do the things director Michael Bay does well and avoids the things outside his skill set. The film, which recounts the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on US facilities in Benghazi, Libya, largely avoids the political issues that arose in their wake, although it dramatizes many of the tragic findings of the bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The generally-agreed-upon facts of the case are aggravating enough. 13 Hours thus plays as essentially a war film, which is something Michael Bay knows how to make. Some of the action is over-the-top; for example, Bay repeats the "follow this bomb as it drops to its target" shot from Pearl Harbor. But for the most part, he reigns in his worst instincts and provides enough exposition in the first act for the audience to understand the chaos that erupts in the third act. The characterizations are a bit thin, save for the pseudononymous Jack Silva, played by the pumped-up John Kacinsk iwell enough that you're not always imagining him in The Office. But the screenplay never becomes as mawkish as Pearl Harbor, either. It's no American Sniper or Zero Dark Thirty, but it's good enough to rank as one of Bay's best films at Rotten Tomatoes and to earn an "A" Cinemascore from generally forgiving audiences.

BILL COSBY: A former district attorney in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, claims he agreed more than a decade ago that his office wouldn't use a civil deposition given by Bill Cosby in any criminal matters, an email obtained by CNN shows -- a revelation that could call into question the viability of the criminal case against the comedian.

JAMIE-LYNN SIEGLER married her fiancé of almost three years, pro baseball player Cutter Dykstra.

PRETTY IN PINK returns to theaters for its 30th anniversary, and is expected to include alternate endings and behind-the-scenes footage.

IRAN: The 10 U.S. Navy sailors held by Iran were told by their captors to "act happy" while they were being videotaped during their detention, according to a U.S. defense official with access to the latest information about the debriefing of the sailors.

ALAN RICKMAN, the much-loved star of stage, TV and films including Harry Potter, Love Actually, Sense and sensibility and Die Hard - and owner of one of the most singular voices in acting ­- has died of cancer at 69. Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Thompson remember.

IRAN claimed that it received an apology from the U.S. before the release of the 10 U.S. sailors who strayed into Iranian waters. And unlike most Iranian claims, this one has some video, even if airing that video violated articles 13 and 17 of the Geneva Convention.

SLEATER-KINNEY: Corin Tucker talked to Pitchfork about growing up in the Olympia punk scene, skipping prom to see Fugazi, loving (and then collaborating with) R.E.M., being inspired by Beyoncé, and more.

TORTOISE talks to Stereogum about the upcoming LP The Catastrophist, David Essex, and much more.

GERMANY will make it easier to deport criminal foreigners following public outrage over the New Year's Eve assaults in Cologne, officials said Tuesday. Authorities say 561 criminal complaints have been filed in connection with the assaults, with about 45 percent involving allegations of sexual offenses, and most of the suspects identified so far are foreign nationals.

THE ISLAMIC STATE: A trio of former Obama administration officials painted a grim picture of the fight against the Islamic State group.